Explosive projector



Oct- 3 1967 c. J.' SCHNEIDER, .JR 3,344,742

EXPLOSIVE PROJECTOR 2 Sheets-Sheet. l

Filed May 10, 1965 lllll..

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OC- 3 1967 l c. J. SCHNEIDER, JR 3,344,742

EXPLOS IVE PROJECTOR Filed May l0, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOI;Clgy'ron J. Schneider, Jr.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,344,742 EXPLOSIVE PROJECTGR ClaytonJ. Schneider, Jr., Amherst, N.Y., assigner to Cornell AeronauticalLaboratory, Inc., Budalo, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 10,1965, Ser. No. 454,470 1 Claim. (Cl. 102--7.2)

This invention relates t-o an explosive projector, and more particularlyto such a projector which projects a proejctile upwardly from groundlevel into the air.

While the invention has general application to any use where it isdesired to Iproject a member from ground level into the air above, ithas particular application to a munition device which can be placed atsubstantially ground level but which Will air burst rather than groundburst. Air burst provides a. more eilective distribution of theprojectile Whether it be of a chemical type or a fragmentationanti-personnel type.

Accordingly, the general object of the present invention is to providean explosive projector which as a self-contained unit may be placed onthe ground or substantially at ground level and which upon actuationwi-ll project a projectile of the desired type upwardly into theoverhead atmosphere.

Another important object is that when the invention is embodied in amunition device, the projectile is arranged for bursting in the airrather than at the ground.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description of two embodiments illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l shows a pop-up chemical land mine type explosive projector anddepicting the same in a slight subterranean position at the instant oftripping by contact with the leg of a foot soldier.

FIG. 2 illustrates such a projector during the initial phase of upwardprojection of the land mine.

FIG. 3 shows a more advanced phase of the firing and depicts the landmine immediately upon separation from the projecting mechanism.

FIG. 4 depicts on a reduced scale the air bursting of the chemical mineat a distance above ground level.

FIG. 5 is a vertical central sectional view of the explosive projectorshown in FIG. l.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of another type of munition deviceembodying the present invention and depicting the same as a sphericalbomblet immediately after impact with the ground following being droppedfrom overhead.

FIG. 7 is a view generally similar to FIG. 6 but depicting the bombletimmediately after being fired resulting in initial separation of its twosemi-spherical shells.

FIG. 8 depicts a more advanced red condition of the bomblet,illustrating the same when the projectile is about to be separated fromthe shells.

FIG. 9 illustrates the air burst of the projectile above ground level.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged central cross sectional view of the bombletillustrated in FIGS. 5-9'.

FIGS. 1-5

The form of explosive projector illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 is shown ascomprising a case 11, a diaphragm 12, a chemical land mine 13, and afuse assembly 14 including a trip lever 17. The lprojector including itselements 11-14 is shown in FIG. 1 as being buried slightly in the groundG so that only the upwardly projecting trip lever 17 is exposed aboveground level.

The fuse assembly 14 may be of any suitable construction and is shown inFIG. 5 as being operatively asso- 3,344,742 Patented Oct. 3, 1967 ICCciated with a propellant charge assembly indicated generally at 15 whichincludes a propellant charge 16 of any suitable composition such asblack powder.

The chemical mine 13 which is illustrative of one form of projectile orpayload member is of known construction. It is shown as having its upperwall central-ly recessed as indicated at 1S to accommodate a bursterassembly 19 and a booster assembly 20. The mine is also shown as havinga bottom wall 21 Iprovided with a large central opening which is coveredby an upper member 22. This member 22 has a central opening surroundedby an upturned neck portion 23 which engages the recessed top wallportion 1S. The mine 13 also includes a downwardly offset lower wallmember 24 provided with a central opening.

Propellant chamber assembly 15 comprises a generally bell-shaped casing25 open at its bottom and having an internal tubular member 26 dependingfrom its top. Arranged in the bottom portion of this tube 26 is a bodyof ignitor material 28 above which is arranged a delay train 29, andabove that a body of suitable detonating material 30. This detonatormaterial 3G when ignited after a predetermined delay in turn detonatesthe booster assembly 20.

The exposed lower portion of ignitor material 28 is in direct contactwith the body of propellant charge material 15. The lower end of casing25 is shown as closed by a cap or cover 31 which is press-fitted oversuch lower end and normally rests on the bottom wall 32 of case 11. Cap31 is separable from casing 25 by the pressure of gas generated bycombustion of propellant charge 16.

Case 11 is shown as having an upturned annular side wall 33 formed witha beaded rim 34 at its upper end which defines an opening. 'I'hisopening is closed by diaphragm 12 which is shown at being in the form ofa sheet of suitable flexible material. This diaphragm is preferablycup-shaped and molded from ethylene-propylene rubber with Daeron fabricreinforcement. Its marginal portion 35 is shown as draped over the rim34 and secured to the case 11 by an encircling outer clamping band 36.Diaphragm 12 is also shown as provided with a central aperture which issurrounded by a slightly thickened annular portion of the diaphragm asindicated at 38.

Propellant chamber assembly 15 includes a shoulder member 39 which issupported on casing 25 and at its upper end is provided with externalthreads 40. The thickened rim 38 of diaphragm 12 rests on the shoulderportion of member 39 and also bears against the bottom surface of lowerwall member 24. This wall member has a central opening and the marginalportion of this member surrounding this opening carries a nut member 41suitably atttached thereto. This nut member 41 has internal threads 42which receive the threads 40 on shoulder member 39. A tubular spacer 43is shown as interposed between the top of shoulder member 39 and thebottom of the recessed portion 18 of the upper wall for the mine 13.

The operation of the explosive projector shown in FIGS. l-5 is asfollows. When trip lever 17 of fuse assembly 14 is actuated as depictedin FIG. l, the fuse ignites propellant charge 16. This generates gaswhich expands the internal volume of the propellant chamber assembly 15.In other word-s, casing 25 is urged upwardly by the pressurized gasesbeing generated l`and the lower cap 31 is blown off this casing. Whencasing and `cover separate the pressurized propellant gases lill thechamber 44 which is the space between diaphragm 12 and case 11. Thiscauses diaphragm 12 to be elevated, inflated so to speak, in turnlifting mine 13. A partial elevation of mine 13 is depicted in FIG. 2from which it will be noted that the earth above the buried mine isheaving to accommodate the upward movement of the mine.

Inflation of the diaphragm 12 continues until it is fully extended asdepicted in FIG. 3 which illustrates that instant when mine 13 leavesdiaphragm 12. The diaphragm has its thickened portion 38 pulled from theclamping space between members 39 and 41. At this time, it matters notif diaphragm 12 is ruptured since it has done its work in projectingmine 13 upwardly. Under its momentum generated by its upwardacceleration mine 13 travels to a predetermined height h as designatedin FIG. 4 at which elevation it explodes. This occurs because whenpropellant 16 was fired, it ignited the ignitor 23, in turn the delaytrain 29 and this ignited the detonator 30. 'I'he ignition of thisdetonator res booster 20 which fires burster 19 resulting in explosionof the mine and dissemination of its chemical content 45.

FIGS. 6-10 The form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6-10 is abomblet 50 which may be dropped from an aircraft. This bomblet 59 isshown as comprising a case composed of two semi-spherical shells 51 and52; a diaphragm on the inside of each shell, that for shell 51 beingdesignated 53 and that for shell 52 being designated 54; and apropellant charge arranged between each diaphragm and its shell, thatfor diaphragm 53 being designated 55 and that for diaphragm 54 beingdesignated 56. Arranged between the diaphragms 53 and 54, which arewithin the corresponding `shells 51 and 52, is a spherical projectile 58which may be of any suitable construction. As shown, this projectile 58includes an internally grooved casing 59, these grooves providingscoring of this casing so that when a burster charge 60 is detonated thecasing 59 will fragment into pieces defined by the grooves.

Also arranged within projectile 58 is a fuse represented generally bythe numeral 61 which may be of any suitable construction. In theembodiment illustrated this is of a known type which is armed by impactof the bomblet 50 with an object such as the ground, as depicted in FIG.6. Leading from fuse 61 are a pair of ignitors 62 and 63 severallyleading to the propellant charges 55 and 56 respectively.

While the shells S1 and 52 may be -held together in any suitable manner,the same are shown as bonded together by a detonating fuse ring 64 whichcontacts one or both of ignitors 62 and 63. Also operatively associatedwith these ignitors 62 and 63 is a time delay train representedgenerally by the numeral 65 and arranged inside the projectile. Thisdelay train 65 is operatively associated with a detonator represented bythe numeral 66 which is also arranged inside projectile 58 and embeddedin its burster charge 60.

Each of the diaphragms S3 and 54, which again may be molded fromethylene-propylene rubber reenforced with Dacron fabric, has itsmarginal portion folded outwardly upon itself, as indicated at 68 fordiaphragms 53 and 69 for diaphragm 54. The outer surface of the foldedmarginal portions 68 and 69 which are annular are suitably bonded to theinternal surface of the corresponding shell 51 or 52. It will be notedthat the ignitors 62 and 63 extend between the corresponding shell anddiaphragm folded part 68 or 69.

In operation of the bomblet 50 shown in FIGS. 6-10, when it impacts theground G as `depicted in FIG. 6, the fuse 61 is armed thereby ignitingignitors 62 and 63. As these burn, the flame front reaches fuse ring 64,detonating it and causing a slight separation of the shells 51 and 52 asdepicted in FIG. 7. The ignitors 62 and 63- continue to burn andultimately ignite their respective propellant charge 55 or 56. Ensuinggeneration of pressurized gas causes iniiation of the diaphragms 53 and54 as depicted in FIG. 8. Since lower shell 52 is supported on theground, diaphragm 54 will inate upwardly, thereby accelerating upwardlyprojectile 58 and diaphragm 53 and upper shell 51. Inasmuch as upperdiaphragm 53 reacts against projectile 58, upper shell 51 is acceleratedupwardly away from projectile 58. Upper shell 51 will be separatedultimately from projectile 58 by the relatively downward ination ofdiaphragm 53.

In other words, upper propellant charge 55 will be utilized to separateupper shell 51 from the projectile 58 while lower propellant charge 56in lower shell 52 is utilized to project projectile 58 upwardly to apredetermined distance above the ground G at which projectile 58 willburst, as depicted in FIG. 9. This `bursting is occasioned by theactuation of the delay train 65, detonator 66 and burster charge 60.

It will be seen that the same operation of the projectile 58 will beproduced if the bomblet ends up on the ground in an inverted position,i.e., with shell 51 at the bottom and shell 52 at the top. Even ifopposing rims of the shells 51 and 52 do not end up in a substantiallyhorizontal plane, the tiring of the bomblet will through reactionagainst the ground cause the device to assume a condition substantiallyas depicted in FIGS. 7 and 8 with the result of au overhead air burstdepicted in FIG. 9.

The specific construction of `and materials employed in the fuses,schematically illustrated, are well known to those skilled in the artand form no part of the present invention.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present inventionaccomplishes the objects stated. Inasmuch as changes in construction mayoccur to those skilled in the art, the embodiments shown and describedare illustrative and not limitative of the present invention, the scopeof which is to be measured by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A munition device, comprising a case including two separable generallysemi-spherical shells .arranged with their rims opposing each other, aflexible diaphragm for each of said shells and having a marginal portionsealingly secured to the same adjacent its rim leaving a movable centralportion unsecured to the corresponding one of said shells, a generallyspherical projectile arranged within said case between said diaphragms,a propellant charge arranged between each of said diaphragms and thecorresponding one of said shells, a burster arranged within saidprojectile, means for igniting said charges, and time delay ignitingmeans operatively interposed between said charge igniting means .andsaid burster, said central portion of each of said diaphragms beingmovable upon ignition of the corresponding one of said charges to aposition exterior of the `corresponding one of said shells while saidmarginal portion of the same one of said diaphragms remains secured tosuch corresponding one of said shells.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,791,716 2/1931 Davis et al.102-6 2,374,179 4/ 1945 Delalande 102--8 2,440,702 5/ 1948 Short 102-82,830,538 4/1958 Dodge 102-8 2,830,539 4-/1958 Cecil 89-1.01 3,119,3021/1964 Barr 89-1 3,170,398 2/1965 Paulson et al 102-9 X 3,175,489 3/1965Reed 102-8 SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner.

